The Silver Arrows may have prevailed in Bahrain but the world champions are under no illusions about pace deficit to the Scuderia; Next race is Chinese GP on April 14
Monday 1 April 2019 11:11, UK
Lewis Hamilton has admitted Mercedes were "very, very lucky" to win in Bahrain with the world champions under no illusions that they are behind Ferrari.
Although Mercedes have won both of the opening races of the 2019 season, Ferrari held a significant pace advantage in the desert with only a late engine glitch denying Charles Leclerc a comfortable victory.
In a bid to extract more pace from Mercedes' 2019 car, Hamilton will test this week in Bahrain.
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"Ferrari dominated all weekend and Charles deserved this victory," Hamilton admitted following his win.
"We were very, very lucky today. But this is motor racing and reliability is real key player.
"We've got work to do. The car needs to be quicker. This is a learning day - because Charles is only going to get stronger.
"We are happy but we are also conscious and aware of how lucky were to come away with a one-two. We can't be jumping around in excitement because we know that Charles did the job should have won."
Race report: Hamilton wins as luck deserts Leclerc
How the epic Bahrain GP unfolded
Reflecting on Mercedes' unexpected failure to keep pace with Ferrari just two weeks after thrashing the opposition in Australia, Hamilton said: "For whatever reason we lost performance. It's difficult to say how big a mountain we have to climb but the car was really, really hard work this weekend and it did not like this track.
"I don't like testing but I decided to do this test on Tuesday. We have some things coming and I'm like, I don't want anyone else to test my car. I want to test these parts and make sure the decisions we're taking steer it in the way that we need it. I am a team player, I want it to be the right way for the rest of the team so that's why I chose to do it."
Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas added: "We know we have work to do. It is going to be a tough battle.
"They are very strong."
Leclerc had been leading by around 10 seconds prior to his costly engine malfunction. But Ferrari's advantage had been even starker on Saturday when Mercedes lost out by almost half a second to Ferrari.
Team boss Toto Wolff admitted in his post-qualifying debrief that he was perplexed by the sudden turnaround in form from Melbourne when Mercedes held sway.
"In cornering performance there is not one corner that we don't gain," said Wolff. "We are losing almost five tenths on the straights."
For Leclerc, Ferrari's speed across the weekend was palpable consolation in the wake of his late heartbreak.
"I think from the whole weekend there are a lot of positives to take," the Ferrari youngster said. "After Australia we were quite a lot far off. I think we found some answers - not all of them - but we found some. We came here, front row lock-out, which was very positive for the team, and we showed that they have done an amazing job."
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